Low Countries Explained

The Low Countries or, in the geographic sense of the term, the Netherlands (Dutch; Flemish: de Lage Landen or Dutch; Flemish: de Nederlanden, French: les Pays Bas), is a coastal region in northwestern Europe, consisting especially of the Netherlands and Belgium, and the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Meuse, Scheldt, and Ems rivers where much of the land is at or below sea level.[1][2] This wide area of Western Europe roughly stretches from the French département du Nord at its southwestern point, to German East Frisia at its northeastern point.

The Netherlands is often considered to include inland areas with strong links, such as Luxembourg today, and historically, parts of the German Rhineland. Most of the Low Countries are coastal regions bounded by the North Sea or the English Channel. Historically, the regions without access to the sea have linked themselves politically and economically to those with access to form various unions of ports and hinterland. Within the European Union the region's political grouping is still referred to as the Benelux.

During the Roman empire the region contained a militarized frontier and contact point between Rome and Germany. With the collapse of the empire, the Low Countries were the scene of the early independent trading centres, that marked the reawakening of Europe in the 12th century. In that period, they rivaled northern Italy as one of the most densely populated regions of Western Europe. Most of the cities were governed by guilds and councils along with a figurehead ruler; interaction with their ruler was regulated by a strict set of rules describing what the latter could and could not expect from them. All of the regions mainly depended on trade, manufacturing and the encouragement of the free flow of goods and craftsmen.

Dutch and French dialects were the main languages used in secular city life.

Terminology

See main article: Terminology of the Low Countries. Historically, the term Low Countries arose at the Court of the Dukes of Burgundy, who used the term French: les pays de par deçà (roughly, "the lands over here") for the Low Countries as opposed to French: les pays de par delà (roughly, "the lands over there") for the Duchy of Burgundy and the Free County of Burgundy, which were part of their realm but geographically disconnected from the Low Countries.[3][4] Governor Mary of Hungary used both the expressions French: les pays de par deça and French: Pays d'Embas (roughly, the "lands down here"), which evolved to French: Pays-Bas or Low Countries. Today the term is typically fitted to modern political boundaries and used in the same way as the term Benelux, which also includes Luxembourg.

The name of the modern country the Netherlands has the same meaning and origin as the term "low countries" due to "nether" meaning "lower". The same name of these countries can be found in other European languages, for example GermanGerman: Niederlande, French, French: les Pays-Bas, and so on, which all literally mean "the Low Countries". In the Dutch language itself (known in Dutch as Dutch; Flemish: Nederlands, meaning "Netherlandish") no plural is used for the name of the modern country. So Dutch; Flemish: Nederland (singular) is used for the modern nation and Dutch; Flemish: de Nederlanden (plural) for the 16th century domains of Charles V. (However, in official use the name of the Dutch kingdom is still Kingdom of the Netherlands (Dutch; Flemish: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden), a name deriving from the 19th-century origins of the kingdom which originally included present-day Belgium.)

In Dutch, and to a lesser extent in English, the Low Countries colloquially means the Netherlands and Belgium, sometimes the Netherlands and Flanders—the Dutch-speaking north of Belgium. (This version does not include Luxembourg.) For example, a "Dutch; Flemish: [[Low Countries derby|Derby der Lage Landen]]" (Derby of the Low Countries), is a sports event between Belgium and the Netherlands.

"Belgium" was renamed only in 1830, after splitting from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in order to distinguish it from its northern neighbour. It had previously also commonly been referred to as one part of the geographic "Netherlands", being the part which remained in the hands of the Habsburg heirs of the Burgundian Dukes until the French Revolution. Politically, before the Napoleonic wars, it was referred to as the "Southern", "Spanish" or later "Austrian" Netherlands. It is still referred to as part of the "low countries".

After the death of Charlemagne, Francia was divided in three parts among his three grandsons. The middle slice, Middle Francia, was ruled by Lothair I, and thereby also came to be referred to as "Lotharingia" or "Lorraine". Apart from the original coastal County of Flanders, which was within West Francia, the rest of the Low Countries were within the lowland part of this, "Lower Lorraine".

After the death of Lothair, the Low Countries were coveted by the rulers of both West Francia and East Francia. Each tried to swallow the region and to merge it with their spheres of influence. Thus, the Low Countries consisted of fiefs whose sovereignty resided with either the Kingdom of France (987–1498) or the Holy Roman Empire. While the further history the Low Countries can be seen as the object of a continual struggle between these two powers, the title of Duke of Lothier was coveted in the low countries for centuries.

World War I

During the early months of World War I (around 1914), The Central Powers invaded the Low Countries of Luxembourg and Belgium in what has been come to be known as the German invasion of Belgium. It led to the German occupation of the two countries. German armies couldn’t advance much farther into France though, causing a military stalemate for most of the war. In the end around 56,000 were killed in the invasion.

World War II

In 1940, Wehrmacht forces turned their eyes west to France. The Low Countries were an easy route of getting around the feared French Maginot Line. Germany used its Blitzkrieg tactics and took out the countries in a matter of two weeks. This gave the Nazis the opportunity to invade France from the north and would allow them to win the war (1940) on the Western Front.

During the occupation, most of the Low Countries' governments were forced to be exiled in Britain along with the French. In the mainland however, many citizens suffered and were killed in fighting. Others (who were minorities) were sent to concentration camps. An eyewitness account of this is the famed Diary of Anne Frank about a Jewish girl in hiding during the war.

The countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg were occupied from about May 1940 to about May 1945 before the complete area was declared liberated thanks to the Allied troops.

After the Second World War

Literature

One of the Low Countries' earliest literary figures is the blind poet Bernlef, from, who sang both Christian psalms and pagan verses. Bernlef is representative of the coexistence of Christianity and Germanic polytheism in this time period.[7]

The earliest examples of written literature include the Wachtendonck Psalms, a collection of twenty five psalms that originated in the Moselle-Frankish region around the middle of the 9th century.[7]